THE CRITIC AND ADVERTISING.
No one who reads a publisher's advertisement can fail to be struck by the use made therein of the pronouncements of well-known literary critics. The publisher conceives—no doubt rightly—that we shall be more likely to read Miss Dementia Plackett's Cold Obstruction if we are reminded that Thomson called it " stupendously vital," Dickson held it -to be " no ordinary book," and the laconic Harrison had to adniit that " it throbs." We are at a loss to understand why this tendency, in modern publicity has spread no further than the book trade. For many commodities, of course, it would be exceedingly difficult to establish arbiters of the public taste ; the demand for jute, ink, gas, ferro-concrete, and knitting- needles—to name but a few—could hardly be stimulated by these subtle and rather personal methods. But we are convinced that a great opportunity awaits the catering and clothing trades. The day. of the dandy and the gourmet is, not long past, and it should be an easy matter to invest them with that glamorous authority which publishers attribute to the book-reviewer. The opinions of well-known fops and epicures will lend weight and a certain cachet to the heretofore uncorro- borated superlatives on the hoardings. " Mr. A's Veal and Hata Pie is one of the best things he has ever done " ; " Cton- smilers of Mr. B's Seed-cake will not be disappointed in his Macaroons " ; " Not kir years have I come across a first hat so provocative." ; ". . . a thoughtful and absorbing shirt. This young haberdasher should go far. . . ." And so on. We look forward to reading them.
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